Hi! We're Ned and Toni Welkes and we'd like to give you a short history of Ellyka Norwegian Elkhounds.

1969-Bayside, New York. ELLYKA Norwegian Elkhounds began with the purchase of our first little moosedog puppy, Tryna (Princess Katrina Morgana). Raising her was an education for us. Tryna taught us the wonderful world of conformation. Although she was not purchased as a show prospect, Tryna loved the show ring. She finished her championship in only ten shows despite being owner-handled by complete novices.

Next, we turned our attention to obedience competition. Having shown our longhaired dachshund to a CD title in only three shows with a high-in-trial at one (no mean feat for a dachshund), we next laid out an obedience career for Tryna. Unfortunately for us, Tryna hated obedience competition as much as she loved conformation. She did, however, distinguish herself by earning the dubious distinction of highest-scoring-failing dog at an obedience match show.

After her short-lived obedience career, Tryna was bred to Ch. Crafdal Tryglikk Toffen, producing a singleton puppy, Damon (Ch. Trymar's Ellyd the Bold). That was to be her last litter.

We are often asked how we arrived at the ELLYKA prefix. The combination of Damon's name (ELLYD) and Tryna's name (KATRINA) gave us ELLYKA, and are a constant reminder to us that every dog we've bred since have Tryna and Damon in their pedigrees.